Starting at the age of four, I was sold by my grandfather to other men for sex. My first pregnancy occurred at age 15. Rather than risk being exposed for his crimes, my grandfather perpetrated one of his most violent acts against me: having me forcibly strapped down to a table while an abortion was carried out over my screaming protests. That abortion was not liberating or empowering. It instead compounded the complex trauma I was enduring, and it enabled my grandfather to continue to profit from my commercialized rape for another two years.

Today, as a Colorado resident who has worked with sexually exploited minors for more than a decade, I have seen firsthand the devastation that comes from unchecked abuse and exploitation. As early voting begins, I want to call attention to Amendment 79, Colorado’s proposed constitutional amendment on abortion. 

Amendment 79 is more than an amendment about abortion — it is a gift to perpetrators, especially those involved in human trafficking, giving them unchecked power to continue their crimes while erasing accountability.

Colorado is already one of the most permissive states when it comes to abortion laws. There are no gestational age restrictions on ending the life of an unborn child. Yet Amendment 79 pushes the envelope further, removing critical protections for minors who are victims of sexual abuse, trafficking and violence. 

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In my years of working as a direct service provider for sexually exploited minors, I have seen tragic patterns of violence, which I experienced myself: young girls trafficked, repeatedly raped for profit, frequently finding themselves pregnant and forced to have abortions to conceal the crime.

Out of the hundreds of sexually exploited youths I’ve served, I have only encountered two young women who did not disclose one or more forced abortions as part of their trafficking experience. Under Amendment 79, this nightmare will only become more common. The amendment explicitly states no laws may “impede or restrict access” to abortion, which effectively removes parental notification requirements. This means when a pregnant minor enters an abortion clinic, no one is obligated to notify her guardians, report to authorities, or investigate how the pregnancy occurred.

By removing parental notification, Amendment 79 not only strips parents of their right to be involved in one of the most significant decisions in their daughter’s life; it also empowers traffickers and abusers, who thrive on secrecy and isolation. Without the requirement to notify parents, no one will ask critical questions about how a young girl became pregnant, shielding predators from scrutiny. This will allow traffickers, abusers and others to exert control over a vulnerable child without anyone knowing.

Amendment 79 will further exploitation by empowering traffickers to continue their crimes with impunity. This amendment is about the systematic stripping away of protections for the most vulnerable among us — minor children unable to vote, too young to legally consent to sex or speak for themselves. A “yes” vote on Amendment 79 would protect the very people who profit from the rape and exploitation of women and children. A “yes” vote would silence parents who have the right to know when their child is facing the aftermath of sexual assault and the violence of abortion.

We must ask ourselves — who are we protecting with Amendment 79? It most definitely is not vulnerable youth. Make no mistake, this amendment isn’t about reproductive rights, and it does not provide reproductive equity.  Instead, by removing the requirement for parental consent, key opportunities to intervene in the commercial exploitation of minors will be missed, the perpetrators trafficking them will be protected, and those who are victimized in human trafficking will be forcibly robbed of equity in choice. Amendment 79 doesn’t offer liberation; it offers silence. It keeps victims trapped in the cycle of violence and it protects those who profit from their pain.

Colorado, we can do better.

Do it for the girls who are being sexually exploited. Do it to stop sexual predators from hiding their crimes behind the guise of reproductive choice. And do it for a future where the vulnerable are protected, not preyed upon.

Jennisue Jessen is a human trafficking and abortion survivor with more than 25 years of experience in the field of human trafficking. She is the founder and chief executive of Compass 31, an international counter-trafficking organization with active work across 44 nations.